Suicide bombing near Shiite school in Syria’s Homs kills 7, incl 5 children

A suicide truck bombing outside a primary school near Syria’s Homs has killed at least 7 people, including five children. Dozens of people have been wounded and several buildings were destroyed by the blast.

The truck exploded outside a compound of schools in the Shiite
town of Umm al-Amed, the governor’s office official said. He said
rescue operations have been launched in the area.

Conflicting reports of number of casualties have emerged in the
aftermath of the attack, with the governor’s office putting a
number of dead at 10 and the British-based Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights, citing a network of activists on the ground,
reported about six killed, saying they do not know yet how many
of the dead were children.

There are two workers among those killed. All of the victims are
civilians.

Some 34 people have sustained injuries, Itar-Tass news agency
reported, citing Suria TV. However, this information could not be
independently verified.

Also on Sunday, dozens of people were killed in an eighth day of
air strikes on Aleppo. The bombing also destroyed "some 10
cars, as well as a residential building," Aleppo Media
Center, a network of citizen journalists on the ground, reported.

It said that the city’s hospitals were “packed with wounded," but
added that the number of dead could not yet be confirmed.

Syria's civil war, now into its third year, has killed an
estimated 6,627 children, a UN monitoring group believes.

Some 126,000 people have died during the war, according to the
UN. The recent deadly attack comes a month ahead of peace talks
scheduled to begin January 22 in Switzerland.

Both the Assad regime and the rebels have been accused of
committing atrocities, massive deadly attacks and of using
chemical weapons.

Last week, the Syrian military told RT that over 80 civilians in
the town of Adra, northwest of the Syrian capital, were executed
by Islamist rebels. Jihadist rebel groups executed dozens of
civilians, including children, with some beheaded or burned
alive, the military said.

The latest report by Amnesty International indicates that an
Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group in Syria is behind abductions,
torture, killing and locking up people in secret prisons with
“inhuman” conditions.

Assad’s government has been also been blamed and condemned for
casualties among civilians.

Earlier this month, the UN body said that its commission of
inquiry into human rights violations in Syria has found evidence
that “indicates responsibility at the highest level of
government, including the head of state."